This afternoon, I had the opportunity to go grab some good soil, haul it back home in a large recycle bin on the back of my burley trailer with my bike, and shovel it into the nasty looking spots in my yard where we pulled out the gravel and weeds a couple of weeks back. It was really fun to run my fingers through the dirt and spread it just right, and all that hard work makes my yard look so much more presentable. My youngest son was our ace number one helper today, getting dirty in the yard with me and making dinner with my boyfriend tonight. He chose the recipe this morning; we shopped for the ingredients together around lunch time, and he made Fettuccini Alfredo, steamed broccoli, carrots, and mushrooms, and a fruit salad with a yogurt and honey dressing to top it all off! It was excellent, and I’m so thankful for my sweetheart, who has the patience of Job, to walk my son through this special experience of learning how to cook. Cooking is something they both enjoy being a part of, so it’s the ideal activity for them to do together. I, on the other hand, am not all that great at it, nor do I have much patience with cooking and all the how to’s in order to make it just right. I tend to get frustrated easily, especially with activities that do not come naturally to me. Give me something written to edit, and I feel completely confident with that task, but ask me to chop something in a particular way, and I instantly feel nervous and usually end up cutting myself. This morning, I cut myself with a butter knife slicing pre-cut bagels for breakfast. Yikes! I probably shouldn’t admit that, but it’s true.
At any rate, life falls into both the categories of cooking and yard work for me. In terms of the cooking part, I don’t always go about it in the most efficient manner, and it doesn’t always look very presentable, but I always make it to the end result, nourishing my body and soul, even if it was in a round about way. And as for the yard work, it may be a little messy, but taking the time to pull out the weeds and lay down some nutrient rich soil leads to a much more presentable and contented daily walk. For some reason, the last few days and weeks of my life have felt unsettled, and frustrations have run high both at work and at home. Life is sometimes complicated and dirty, and it rarely turns out the way you expect it to. The dinner takes longer to prepare than you anticipated; family members fall ill unexpectedly; your parents get remarried after over 2 decades apart; your marriage turns sour and nothing you do can seem to make it sweet again; your friends disappoint you, and your children don’t always make the best choices, and you don’t always say and do all the right things for those you love the most. Even work can be messy with daily miscommunication or lack of communication, co-workers who can’t let go and let others help them, and everyone having their own way and time line for completing tasks that the rest of us believe we can do faster and better. We’re all very unique, and life is never easy or clean all the time, it just is what it is. To quote to famous Forrest Gump’s mom, “Life is like a box of chocolates; you never know what you’re going to get.” And so I am reminded once again that I can only do the best I can with each moment God gives me, seek to make it right when mistakes are made, and hand the rest over to the Almighty!
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